(January 23, 2012 – New York, NY) DC Entertainment, home
of the world’s greatest super heroes, today unveiled an unprecedented
giving campaign to fight the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa. This
multi-million-dollar commitment over the next
two years will be supported across all Warner Bros. Entertainment’s and
Time Warner’s businesses and feature DC Entertainment’s iconic Justice
League characters, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green
Lantern, The Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg, issuing
the call to action, “We Can Be Heroes.” The announcements were made at a
press conference today in New York by Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO,
Warner Bros.; Jeff Robinov, President, Warner Bros. Pictures Group; and
Diane Nelson, President, DC Entertainment.

We Can Be Heroes will support the efforts of three
humanitarian aid organizations working in Africa—Save the Children,
International Rescue Committee and Mercy Corps—as part of the global
effort to fight the current hunger crisis in the Horn of
Africa. The region is suffering its worst drought and famine in over 60
years, with 13 million in need of critical assistance and 250,000
facing starvation in Somalia alone. Each partner organization was
chosen for its track record of effective and expeditious
humanitarian aid efforts in Africa.

We Can Be Heroes will be supported via promotional exposure
across all of Time Warner’s divisional advertising platforms (Warner
Bros., Turner Broadcasting, Time Inc., HBO), generating millions of
consumer impressions and creating crucially needed
awareness of this crisis worldwide. Save the Children, International
Rescue Committee and Mercy Corps will equally share a corporate donation
of at least $2 million over the next two years comprised of cash
donations, employee matching funds and consumer matching
funds.

“Warner Bros. has a long history of corporate philanthropy
and outreach, and this campaign proudly continues that tradition,” said
Meyer. “We are a global company, and this is a global issue. By
marshalling our expertise in consumer and fan engagement
and creating global awareness, we hope we’re able to inspire others to
join us in becoming ‘heroes’ and make a difference in the Horn of
Africa.”

The Justice League characters were chosen by DC
Entertainment both for their global recognition as well as their
demonstration of strength in unity and numbers. The campaign’s graphic
identifier features the iconic Justice League characters—Superman,
Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Aquaman and
Cyborg—outlined in silhouette against the African continent. Each of
these characters is a super hero in his or her own right, but when they
band together as the Justice League, they become an unstoppable
force for good and right in the universe—a key message of the We Can Be
Heroes campaign. While many individuals may feel powerless to effect
change on their own, as part of a global campaign such as this, their
efforts, combined with those of other donors,
can create a world of change.

A key launch element of We Can Be Heroes is the campaign’s website, www.WeCanBeHeroes.org.
Here, consumers can make donations which DC Entertainment will match
100
percent (up to $1 million in donations), purchase specially branded
merchandise, with 50 percent of the purchase price going to fight the
hunger crisis via We Can Be Heroes, sign up for newsletters and
updates, and join the We Can Be Heroes online community.
The site will also feature information on each of the partner
organizations and updates on current conditions in the Horn of Africa.

“This campaign goes straight to the heart of our core
competency, as Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment both have a rich legacy
of telling socially relevant, compelling stories with characters
embraced by global audiences,” said Robinov. “The fact
that we’re able to take what we do and use it to raise awareness—and
inspire action—around a cause as important as this is gratifying. With
the support of the entire Studio and our Time Warner sister companies,
this campaign, like the DC Comics super heroes,
will make a great impact on an important issue.”

“The members of the Justice League are an international
team of super heroes beloved by a broad range of fans, including men and
women, young and old. This makes them the perfect ‘spokescharacters’
for this campaign,” said Nelson. “Their dedication
to social justice and commitment to band together to defend the helpless
brilliantly supports the ideals of the We Can Be Heroes campaign. The
hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa is something we can reverse if we
all work together. I’m proud and grateful
we’re able to harness the power and standing of the DC Comics brand and
iconic characters as well as for the support from both Warner Bros. and
Time Warner that has allowed us to pursue this unprecedented
initiative.”

“This is a tragic situation affecting millions and millions
of people. Everyone has the ability to be a part of the solution and
efforts such as We Can Be Heroes help bring us closer to that goal,”
said Dr. Jill Biden, who visited refugees in
Kenya in August and has worked to raise awareness of the crisis. “I
commend the efforts of DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. and other
organizations who are using their global reach to help raise awareness
of the crisis.”

DC Entertainment, home to iconic brands DC Comics (Superman,
Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, The Flash), Vertigo (Sandman,
Fables) and MAD, is the creative division charged with strategically
integrating its content across Warner Bros. Entertainment
and Time Warner. DC Entertainment works in concert with many key Warner
Bros. divisions to unleash its stories and characters across all media,
including but not limited to film, television, consumer products, home
entertainment and interactive games. Publishing
thousands of comic books, graphic novels and magazines each year, DC
Entertainment is the largest English-language publisher of comics in the
world. In January 2012, DC Entertainment, in collaboration with Warner
Bros. and Time Warner divisions, launched We
Can Be Heroes—a giving campaign featuring the iconic Justice League
super heroes—to raise awareness and funds to fight the hunger crisis in
the Horn of Africa.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Here, for your enjoyment and edification, is a list of all the Pyr
novels published in 2011 for which I served as editorial director,
editor, and art director. Also included is a list of each work's
respective cover artist. Please don't forget to carefully consider
illustration and illustrators when you are voting in the various awards
and best of the year polls. Our illustrators are an incredible and
unique asset of science fiction and fantasy publishing and we should
celebrate them. Happy New Year!

Frostborn

Thrones and Bones

About Me

Lou Anders is the author of the Thrones and Bones series, a middle grade fantasy adventure that begins with the novel Frostborn, published by Random House’s Crown Books for Young Readers. He is a Hugo award winning editor and a Chesley Award winning art director, with six additional Hugo nominations, six additional Chesley nominations, three World Fantasy award nominations, a Shirley Jackson award nomination and a Philip K. Dick award nominations. For ten years, he served as the editorial director of Pyr books. Additionally, he is the editor of nine anthologies, including Swords & Dark Magic (Eos, 2010, with Jonathan Strahan), and Masked (Gallery Books, 2010). He is the author of The Making of Star Trek: First Contact (Titan Books, 1996), and has published over 500 articles in such magazines as The Believer, Publishers Weekly, Dreamwatch, DeathRay, Star Trek Monthly, Star Wars Monthly, Babylon 5 Magazine, Sci Fi Universe, Doctor Who Magazine, and Manga Max. His articles and stories have been translated into Danish, Greek, German, Italian & French.